Levan Town, after years of trying, has finally been successful in obtaining funds from the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, for a project at the town park. They are planning to use these funds to build a pickleball court.

“We haven’t been successful on these grants in the past,” said Mayor Bruce Rowley, “but we hung in there and figured out what we needed to do to fix some of those issues.”

He said that the court will be a regulation size one, with a rubber mat, and a roof over it. The proposed location will be just south of the restrooms at the park.

He opened up the public hearing for any comment.

Linda Hanks, resident, said she was in full support of the idea. She wondered why the town hadn’t wanted to do a pickleball/tennis court, but after hearing the reasons, she understood.

The grant amount is for $149,000 and the town is responsible for 21 percent of that. Mayor Rowley said that the town couldn’t have built one nearly as nice with their own money. Hanks said that a tennis court, for just one, could cost around $200,000.

Council member Belle Brough said many people would use the pickleball court. Hanks said that pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the nation right now.

Mayor Rowley said that he was open to suggestions if people wanted it located somewhere else in the park. He said that his reasoning for the proposed site was so that there would be adults in the vicinity of the splash pad, to keep an eye on the kids.

The town will not receive the funding until July 1st, so the court will not be ready for the town’s Pioneer Day celebration. Because the town had all their plans ready to go, though, CDBG, which typically would have awarded the money in the fall, said they had some money now and would award it to Levan to get started in July.

“I’m excited,” Rowley said. “I think it’s going to be a great addition for our town.”

He then gave an update on why the baseball improvement project had stalled.

“The reason that the ball park has been torn up is that we took it apart and leveled it and applied for a grant [to help build the rest of it],” he said. He said that if the town starts on the improvements, they won’t be eligible for the grant.

“We are okay to get it leveled and ready to go,” he said.

That particular grant would come from the state instead of federal so the town could move a little faster on that money, if they get it, he said.

“If we don’t get it, then we’ve got money and we’ll start working on the ball diamond,” he said. “But that’s the reason we haven’t been out there gung-ho trying to get it so the kids could be using it right away. We’ve been holding out until we find out about that money, but we are building a ball park.”

Christine Carrigan, town clerk, said that after the public hearing was held, they could put the pickleball court out for bids.

Rachel Goates, council member, thought the town had gotten some preliminary bids before they applied for the grant for the pickleball court. Carrigan said they had gotten some Requests for Proposal, or RFP, from Jones and DeMille Engineering with some ball park figures.

Brough said that anything that was added to the park would benefit families in Levan. She said that it would probably be so popular they might have to have a sign-up sheet for people to use it.

For the most part, council members had only heard positive remarks from the general public. Some had wondered why they weren’t building a multi-use court to add tennis. Hanks said that maybe the town could build the pickleball court in an area where they could expand in the future.

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program supports community development activities to build stronger and more resilient communities. To support community development, activities are identified through an ongoing process. Activities may address needs such as infrastructure, economic development projects, public facilities installation, community centers, housing rehabilitation, public services, clearance/acquisition, Microenterprise assistance, code enforcement, homeowner assistance, etc.